Umar Khalid And Anirban Bhattacharya Get Bail For Six Months

This photograph taken late on February 23, 2016 shows Indian student activist Umar Khalid (C) and Anirban Bhattacharya (L) walking through the campus of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on their way to surrendering to Indian authorities. Khalid and Bhattacharya are accused of sedition over a rally at which anti-India slogans were shouted. Students have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing nationalist government of misusing the British-era sedition law to stifle dissent. AFP PHOTO / AFP / STRDEL (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- More than three weeks after they were arrested, Jawaharlal Nehru University students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, accused of sedition, were granted six-month interim bail by a Delhi court on Friday.

Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh at Patiala House Court directed each student to furnish Rs 25,000 as surety amount, and told them not to leave the city.

The Modi government has accused Khalid and Bhattacharya of organising an event to mark the third anniversary of Afzal Guru’s execution.

Afzal Guru was sentenced to death for plotting the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, which claimed the lives of 14 people. The 43-year old Kashmiri was pulled out of the death row cue and executed by the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance government on Feb 9, 2013, in the run up to the national election. His sentence and execution have always been a subject of controversy.

The JNU row sparked a nationwide debate on free speech, the space for dissent especially in academic institutions, and nationalism.

While they are mixed feelings on whether students should organise events, which are deeply hurtful to the sentiments of many people, and regarded by them as "anti national," the Modi government has faced a great deal of criticism at home and abroad for slapping sedition charges on the JNU students.